What if I am in a hit and run accident, and I have identified the owner of the vehicle that hit me but not the driver?

If the car was not reported stolen prior to the accident, then sue the owner.

If you were at work at the time of the accident, you should file a workmens compensation claim for any personal injuries. If your insurance company already paid your damages, it could sue the car owner for reimbursement in Justice Court (up to $10,000) and be able to ask the owner who was driving. It should also contact the owner's insurance company. If you were to sue the owner, it would be difficult to prove any damages since you have been paid. But, it may be a way to find out who was driving the car.

If the police cannot find the guy, there is little you can do as they have more resources. You can file a "John Doe" case in Common Pleas Court (I am assuming you are in Supreme Court). You would have to ask for more than $3,000.00 (Common Pleas jurisdiction starts at $7500.00). You could seek punitive damages to get it that high. (not that you are likely to get that much, but you must be seeking an amount to get into Common Pleas). The reason to file in Common Pleas is so that you will have the right to discovery. You can then subpoena the owner to sit for a deposition and ask the owner under oath who was driving.

Get you a lawyer and rely on what he says about filing suit. Police don't care about your problems. Look after yourself and don't rely on them.

The police are correct. You will not get retribution, just at most payment for your losses.

Unless the owner entrusted the car to an incompetent driver, I really don't see any liability on the owner's behalf since they weren't driving. Additionally, if your insurance company has already paid for the damages, they would be entitled to get their money back out of any recovery you may make against the owner. So, I'm not real sure you would accomplish anything by suing in Small Claims. You would just be taking money out of one pocket and putting it into another. You should also be aware that insurance follows the car and would cover any permissive driver of the car that hit you, but there would be no coverage if the driver was not driving with the permission of the owner. If you have that situation, you may waste a bunch of time and money suing. You might want to talk with a lawyer familiar with Alabama accident law.

You can certainly undertake to continue pursuit of this matter if you wish, but it would seem to me that you are most probably getting to the area of diminishing returns. Regardless of the amount of damages which were caused, if you have been reimbursed by your insurance company for your damages is now their claim against the owner/driver of the offending vehicle, not yours. You can only collect once.